I want to take another year off, because I feel like it might be a mistake to go to law school at the age of 20. I feel like I could really benefit from another year of work and life experience.

You really want to seem to take some time off and I would agree that it is probably the best thing to do in your situation. Make sure you keep racking up the "soft factors" but with your numbers you have a shot to get in anywhere. Schools might be shying away from you because of your age at the moment. If I was you after you receive your final decisions from the schools you mention I would try to contact some of the admissions office and ask if they perceived your age to have a negative impact on your application. All that being said I would risk re-applying and not defer at boalt.

If you're not 100% sure about Boalt, go ahead and take the time off. Not only can you afford it being so young, but like you said, you could get more work experience and soft factors (not to mention another year off from school )

You're young + you have great numbers. I wouldn't worry about Boalt's apps increasing next year, as you should crack CCN (maybe with $) if not HYS if you take another year off and put together a good app. Get a job, live it up, save some $$$, travel, then reapply.

Absolutely reapply. You have great stats and will have no problem when you reapply down the line. Take some time off while you still can and enjoy life. Once you graduate ls and get into your career, you'll have little to no time to travel, take on big projects, etc. so you should do the things you really want to before you dive into law school and beyond.

Absolutely reapply. You have great stats and will have no problem when you reapply down the line. Take some time off while you still can and enjoy life. Once you graduate ls and get into your career, you'll have little to no time to travel, take on big projects, etc. so you should do the things you really want to before you dive into law school and beyond.

REAPPLY. Those numbers merit HYS acceptances + T14 named scholarships; your age has got to be holding you back. I think you're making the right call by waiting a year (not in terms of admissions, just life in general).

Agree with all of the above. Remember that if you go now, you'll be applying for 2L jobs when you're barely legal to drink... and you'd be an associate at the age most people graduate undergrad. Just like with schools, your age might make you less competitive for some jobs that you'd get easily after taking a year or two off.

I agree with the above. With your numbers and soft factors you have the potential to get into any school you want. Your age should be a help rather than a hindrance--if, for whatever reason, schools were skeptical about it this year, take another year and prove that you are a mature, well-adjusted person who can successfully assimilate into the "real" world.

On the other hand. Being underage in law school is not such a terrible or frightening thing as some people might make it out to be. I am still underage in my 2L year and fit in just fine. The professors will not know how old you are (or won't care, or at least won't treat you any differently), and your fellow classmates will be impressed but will quickly adjust (presumably you went through similar reactions when you went to college early). As for the job process, employers are not allowed to ask the age of job applicants, so the only way your age will hurt you is if you look or act particularly young--or, more specifically, if you look or act immature. (You do have to fill out forms with your birthdate etc. once you have the job, but at that point it's too late for them to back out). Obviously you can't help it if you appear young, but you've probably had some experience blending in with an older crowd by this point.

In other words, if you want to go right now, I think you'll adjust just fine. However I do believe that with another year you can substantially increase your chances of getting into a top school.

Are you sure the higher-ranked schools you wanted to get into didn't average your LSAT scores and treat you as a 3.9/170? Boalt seems like a good fit for those numbers, and I can't imagine how you wouldn't crack the top 5 with a 176 unless you wrote your personal statement in crayon. Being young's not that big a deal.